Death Temple of Sarnath, playtest #1

Our oldest had her baby shower today, so of course I took the opportunity to play a game!  I used My cousin's husband (and my ex-college roommate) and their son as guinea pigs to do do a mini-playtest of my Astounding Tales! convention game "Death Temple of Sarnath" (see full description here)

We only had 3 factions, Doc Savage with his cousin Patricia Savage, Ham Brooks and Mnk Mayfair versus the cultists and a band of Arab Slavers.  I will post the full scenario, quick reference sheets and stats as I develop it.

It went quit well, and I made some design decisions to ignore some rules to streamline play:

• Ignore range modifiers for shooting at long range, but shorten the overall weapon ranges.  For example, rifles only shoot 18".
• Do not allow moving and shooting in the same action.  You can move 4" and shoot or move 8"
• Ignore running / creeping speeds
• Ignore the difference between Brawling and Serious Business in the rules, just call melee Brawling

Here are a few shots of the game, click photos to enlarge:

Daniel, as Doc Savage, carefully approaches the temple.  (Temple scratch built from Hirst Arts molds)

 A bit better view of the temple with Shirley Uoff tied up, destined for a fate worse than death!

But then, Mustafa the Cunning arrives to rescue her, and deliver her to the slave markets of Zanzibar!

Chaos ensues as Doc and Mustafa trade savage blow for several turns, while much mayhem erupts as the cultists, slavers, and Ham and Monk vw for the girl.  Until Crowley's chanting stops and something MAN WAS NOT MEANT TO KNOW shows up.

"Come with me if you want to live!"  Pat Savage manages to grab the heiress and spirit her away from the temple.

Just in the nick of time, Doc's plane arrives to carry the survivors off, we assume Monk grabs his best friend Ham and they make it to the plane.

The last known photograph of Crowley, taken from Doc's plane as they headed back to NYC and some much needed rest.  Doc will need to do some research in his fortress of solitude to determine how to deal with this new threat.

Great game, and we actually got another in that afternoon with 2 additional players, so stay tuned to that report.  most important lesson learned: If you are going to throw a pig at Cthulhu and you expect it to explode, make some preparations first!

Until next time, good gaming!